Publications
Chaco Culture National Historical Park: Paleontological site monitoring protocol
Chaco Culture National Historical Park (CHCU) is home to a rich array of Upper Cretaceous paleontological resources, with over 100 sites documented since 2005. A new monitoring protocol has been developed to effectively manage and track these valuable fossils, which are divided into twelve Paleontological Management Areas (PMAs). Each PMA includes multiple localities, prioritized based on factors such as stratigraphy, accessibility, and management needs. The protocol provides detailed guidance for field methods, site discovery protocols, and monitoring frequencies, with appendices offering editable forms for documentation. This structured approach aims to preserve and study CHCU's significant paleontological heritage while balancing conservation with scientific inquiry.
Water quality at Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the potential effects of hydrocarbon extraction
Groundwater in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, sourced from the Gallup Sandstone aquifer, is among the oldest and most geochemically evolved on record, with a median age of approximately 41,000 years. A comprehensive geochemical analysis revealed evidence suggesting mixing between aquifers and potential contamination by hydrocarbons, likely facilitated by numerous extraction boreholes. Key indicators include fractionated noble gases, trace hydrocarbon-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the park’s main supply well, and major ion trends pointing to cross-aquifer mixing. While these findings hint at possible impacts from oil and gas extraction, further research is needed to distinguish between natural processes and anthropogenic influences.
“Not From Their Culture”: The Influence of Artisanal Promotion Agents in the Production and Commercialization of Indigenous Crafts in Chaco, Argentina
Artisanal promotion agents (APAs) significantly influence the production and commercialization of indigenous crafts in Chaco, Argentina, shaping decisions on colors, materials, and shapes without always making their cultural presumptions explicit. Through ethnographic fieldwork spanning six years, researchers observed that APAs use images and prototypes to communicate design suggestions, diversifying craft production while maximizing market appeal. Their influence is heterogeneous, with notable impact on shape choices but less obvious effects on color decisions. This study highlights the pivotal role of APAs in mediating cultural expressions through commercial systems, revealing how they manage both artistic diversity and economic strategies.
Revisiting and reframing ethnographic praxis. The return of visual collections from Gothenburg to the Argentine Chaco
This study reveals that ethnographic fieldwork, when applied to the return of visual collections from museums to Indigenous communities, can uncover deep social and cultural dynamics. By presenting century-old photographs and films to the Pilagá People in Argentina's Chaco region, the research demonstrates how such returns are embedded in complex historical relationships with anthropology. The findings highlight that prolonged ethnographic engagement is essential for understanding the multifaceted impacts of repatriation efforts. Additionally, it critiques traditional ethnographic practices, suggesting they have left lasting imprints on local perceptions of culture and memory, necessitating a reframing of field methods to incorporate critical perspectives.
The deterioration of the Pueblo Bonito Great House in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, USA
Ancestral Puebloan engineers at Pueblo Bonito, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in New Mexico, faced significant structural challenges due to annual precipitation of about 220 mm. Historical photographs from 1887 to the 1920s reveal that wood decay fungi caused rot in wetted roof and ceiling timbers, lintels, and wall support beams, leading to roof and wall collapse over decades. Water action on mud mortar also destabilized stone walls, while freezing ponded water caused blowouts. These time-dependent and independent events suggest that Pueblo Bonito's rooms may have had a lifespan of only decades, resulting in multiple build-repair-abandon cycles. The study retrospectively analyzed these photographs to attribute structural damages to identifiable agents present during the site's occupancy.
The dialectics of capital: learning from Gran Chaco
Capitalism's dynamic influence on socio-ecological systems is revealed through the Dialectical Socio-Ecological System (D-SES) framework, which integrates process ecology with historical materialism. This approach uncovers how capitalist dynamics, characterized by autocatalysis, centripetality, directionality, and autonomy, emerge from interactions within economic/material and cultural/institutional spheres. Applied to the Chaco Salteño region—a key agricultural frontier in South America—this framework demonstrates how capital-intensive agriculture attracts resources, fine-tunes production modes, and generates class frictions that could serve as leverage points for systemic transformation. The study highlights the need for critical scrutiny of capitalism to achieve sustainability in an era marked by global environmental changes.
Ecosystem impacts by the Ancestral Puebloans of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA
Centuries of resource extraction by the Ancestral Puebloans in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, significantly impacted local pinyon-juniper woodlands. Analysis of pollen and macrobotanical remains indicates that juniper trees, a slow-growing species, were decimated during the Bonito phase (AD 800-1140), contributing to environmental instability and resource scarcity. The study suggests that recurrent harvesting destabilized ecosystems, exacerbating challenges faced by the Ancestral Puebloans before their eventual departure. This research highlights the long-term ecological consequences of human resource use in ancient societies.
Probabilities of designed locations of ceremonial foci: the Chaco Meridian, temple IV at Tikal, and a large-scale sacred Adena river landscape
Research reveals strong evidence that prehistoric cultures, such as those in Chaco Canyon and the Adena region, intentionally designed large-scale geometric patterns across landscapes. The study distinguishes between random alignments and intentional design by testing 26 prominent Adena mounds against river confluence points and mountain peaks, finding a high probability of deliberate surveying. Similar analyses at Tikal's Temple IV and Chaco Canyon's great kivas also suggest designed ceremonial foci. The approach involves modeling random point sets to compare the frequency of precise three-point alignments and right-angles, with results indicating intentional geometric planning in these ancient landscapes.
Talking about trees: the territorial classification of native forests in the Argentinian Chaco
In the Argentinian Gran Chaco, deforestation driven by capital-intensive agriculture remains rampant despite the national forest law (NFL), with its implementation varying significantly across provinces. Research reveals that the proportion of native forests classified as low conservation value is influenced by environmental factors—such as forest cover—and socio-economic conditions, including the extent of agricultural expansion and the strength of pro-deforestation coalitions. Using a combination of the socio-ecological systems framework and historical materialism, along with qualitative comparative analysis, the study systematically explores how these contextual and economic pressures shape institutional responses to deforestation. The findings highlight that provinces with stronger pro-deforestation influences tend to downplay the conservation value of native forests, underscoring the need for targeted policies to mitigate climate change in this biodiversity hotspot.
‘Winners’ and ‘losers’ of the agricultural expansion in the Argentine Dry Chaco
Agricultural expansion in the Argentine Dry Chaco, driven by global food demand, asymmetrically affects social wellbeing and generates conflicts over natural resource access. This study reveals how land-use changes disproportionately impact rural communities, creating 'winners' and 'losers' that exacerbate inequalities. By analyzing these dynamics, the research provides critical insights for territorial planning and conflict resolution strategies, aiming to foster more just and sustainable relationships between people and nature in complex landscapes.
Competing Cultures: A New Age in Chaco Canyon
Chaco Culture National Historical Park faces competing cultural uses, with modern 'offerings' by non-Native visitors and growing political engagement from Native American descendant communities. This study highlights the evolving management of these manifestations, influenced by events like the 1987 Harmonic Convergence and the park's re-examination of museum collection policies. It underscores the need for adaptive strategies to balance preservation with diverse cultural practices.
Chaco Rock Art Matters
Chaco rock art plays a crucial role in understanding the Chaco culture and its regional significance, contrary to its historical neglect. The study argues that integrating rock art into archaeological research can clarify perceptions of Chaco's social affiliations, ideologies, cosmologies, and worldviews. While Chaco is renowned for its monumental architecture—such as great houses built between 900 and 1140 CE—the region's rock art has been overlooked despite its potential to provide insights into cultural dimensions often expressed through visual media. The research emphasizes that rock art, like other material culture elements, can serve as a symbol of group association or sociopolitical affiliation, challenging the traditional focus on architecture alone. By analyzing rock art within Chaco Canyon, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the 'Chaco Phenomenon,' moving beyond speculative models of centralized systems and offering new perspectives on its cultural and political landscape.
Remote Sensing of Chaco Roads Revisited
A groundbreaking application of Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) technology has revolutionized the documentation of Chaco roads, monumental linear surface constructions from the precolumbian culture that thrived in the Four Corners region between approximately AD 600 and 1300. Traditional methods relying on aerial photographs and ground surveys have become increasingly ineffective due to natural weathering, erosion, and land development, rendering once-visible roads virtually undetectable. This study demonstrates lidar's unprecedented ability to not only document known Chaco roads but also uncover previously undetected segments and provide a precise quantitative record of these rapidly vanishing features. Through case studies of the Aztec Airport Mesa Road, the Great North Road, and the Pueblo Alto Landscape, researchers highlight lidar as an essential tool for preserving archaeological knowledge in the face of environmental degradation.
Sociopolitical, Ceremonial, and Economic Aspects of Gambling in Ancient North America: a Case Study of Chaco Canyon
Gambling played a multifaceted role in ancient Chaco Canyon (AD 800–1180), serving as a social, economic, and ceremonial mechanism that integrated diverse communities, facilitated trade, accumulated material wealth, perpetuated religious ideology, and established social inequality. This study challenges contemporary Western perceptions of gambling by analyzing 471 gaming artifacts from museum collections alongside oral traditions of descendant Native cultures, revealing its dynamic and productive nature in precontact North American societies.
Construction Timber Transport to Chaco Canyon: Prehistoric Rolling Roads?
A reevaluation of the extensive, straight roadways in Chaco Canyon suggests they were designed for rolling timbers to construction sites, challenging the long-held assumption that logs were carried manually. The study examines the feasibility and efficiency of rolling techniques, supported by comparisons with similar practices in other regions, arguing that this method warrants greater consideration than previously accorded.
The role of a Chaco-Era great house in the Southern Cibola Region of West-Central New Mexico: The Largo Gap great house community
Largo Gap, a late Pueblo II (a.d. 1050–1130) Chaco-style great house in the southern Cibola region of New Mexico, served as a socially integrative hub for multi-ethnic communities at the interface of Mogollon and Puebloan cultures. Archaeological survey and excavation revealed that while the structure was architecturally 'Chacoan,' its use incorporated material culture from both ancestral groups, suggesting it played a pivotal role in regional social cohesion. This finding challenges the notion of cultural homogeneity within the Chaco Sphere, instead highlighting the complex interplay between local traditions and broader Chacoan influences during this period.
Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies
Prehistoric societies, including those at UNESCO World Heritage Sites like Chaco Canyon, employed sophisticated mnemonic devices to encode and transmit vast amounts of pragmatic knowledge—such as navigation, astronomy, and trade agreements—despite lacking written records. Lynne Kelly's analysis reveals that control over this knowledge was intricately linked to power structures within oral cultures. By examining both historically documented societies and archaeological evidence from Chaco Canyon, Poverty Point, and Stonehenge, the study demonstrates how monumental structures served as tools for preserving and disseminating complex information, offering a new lens to interpret non-literate societies' achievements.
The Cambridge World History
A comprehensive analysis of global developments from 1200 BCE to 900 CE reveals the formation and expansion of powerful states, empires, and cross-cultural networks, alongside transformative changes in science, technology, economic systems, social hierarchies, and cultural practices. The study, part of The Cambridge World History, employs a multidisciplinary approach to examine critical transitions across Eurasia, the Mediterranean, South Asia, Africa, East Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. It highlights specific regional studies, including trade dynamics along the Silk Roads and Sahara, Chaco culture in the US Southwest, and Confucianism's role in East Asian governance, offering a nuanced understanding of historical processes that shaped these civilizations.
Utilización de reptiles durante el periodo Agroalfarero de la región Chaco-Santiagueña, Argentina
A new study reveals that reptiles played a significant but understudied role in the diets of ancient inhabitants of the Chaco-Santiagueña region in northwestern Argentina during the Agroalfarero period (350 AD to Spanish conquest). Analysis of tortoise, snake, and lizard remains from archaeological sites indicates anthropic use, such as burning for tortoises and cut marks on Tupinambis bones, suggesting these reptiles were consumed seasonally. While evidence is limited—tortoises show body part representations and burned bones, while snakes provide only indirect thermal alteration clues—Tupinambis consumption is more clearly documented through disarticulation and skinning marks. Reptiles contributed minimally (0.5–8% NISP) but complementarily to the diet, highlighting a previously overlooked resource in zooarchaeological studies of this region.
Visuality, Coloniality and Modernism in the Gran Chaco: Assessing Grete Stern's Indigenous Photographs
Grete Stern's indigenous photographs from Argentina's Gran Chaco region represent a pivotal aesthetic and ethical shift in visual representations of the area, moving away from the anthropological gaze of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These images, rooted in modernist photography and humanist concerns, challenge previous narratives by focusing on the photographs themselves rather than Stern's biography. The study reveals how Stern's work contributed to the aestheticization of indigenous communities, influencing contemporary photographers like Guadalupe Miles. By analyzing these photographs within historical and visual contexts, the research highlights their enduring impact on representations of Argentina's indigenous cultures.
The Chacoan Court Kiva
Research reveals that courtyard kivas, large ceremonial rooms within the great houses of the Chaco culture, played a pivotal role in both architectural and social integration. Unlike previous studies that focused on artifacts or superficial room distinctions, this work provides a detailed definition of courtyard kivas and explores their significance in Chacoan communities. By analyzing numerous kivas, the study highlights their unique characteristics and functional importance, offering new insights into the ceremonial and social structures of this ancient culture.
Building up the collective: a critical assessment of the relationship between indigenous organisations and international cooperation in the Paraguayan Chaco
International cooperation in Paraguay's Chaco region often reinforces a narrow definition of 'the political,' sidelining indigenous practices by labeling them as religious or ignoring them altogether. This study critiques how such cooperation, rooted in the nature-culture divide, undermines diverse indigenous political expressions. Through qualitative analysis, it examines the implications of this dynamic on indigenous organizations, highlighting the need for more inclusive frameworks that recognize and integrate indigenous political agency beyond conventional Western constructs.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Between 900 and 1115 CE, the Anasazi—a term derived from Navajo meaning 'ancient ones'—constructed nine monumental multistory structures within Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, known as the Great Houses. These architectural marvels, including Pueblo Bonito with over 650 rooms spanning three acres, exhibited unprecedented scale and complexity in ancient North American civilizations. Unlike other Pueblo dwellings, the Great Houses featured high ceilings, intricate masonry patterns, and sheer size, reflecting an advanced society of farmers, potters, and sun worshipers. This study highlights their uniqueness among regional ruins, offering insights into the sophisticated organizational and engineering capabilities of the Anasazi civilization that thrived in a harsh desert environment.
Climate and Culture Change in North America AD 900–1600
Climate change significantly influenced the cultural trajectory of Native American societies in North America between AD 900 and 1600. This study reveals that the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA) paralleled those in Europe, with profound impacts on population dynamics, agriculture, architecture, and art. During the MWP, Native peoples experienced a cultural renaissance marked by population growth, intensified agriculture, monumental construction, and sophisticated artistry, leading to the rise of dominant centers like Chaco Canyon, Cahokia, and Casas Grandes—comparable in scale to major European cities. The onset of the LIA reversed these trends, causing sharp declines in population, agricultural production, and societal complexity, culminating in the collapse of these cultural hubs and widespread abandonment or fortification of smaller villages.
Ancestors and the sun: astronomy, architecture and culture at Chaco Canyon
Astronomical alignments in Chaco Canyon's Great Houses and Kivas reveal three distinct architectural traditions tied to migration, ancestor veneration, and solstice observations. The study confirms that Bonito Phase structures (AD 1020–1100) predominantly face south-southeast (SSE), likely linking them to ancestral practices, while later Great Houses exhibit cardinal north-south or east-west alignments, possibly serving as solstice calendrical stations for public ceremonies. Ethnographic evidence supports the SSE orientation's connection to migration traditions. One outlier, Bis sa'ani, combines all three traditions. The findings suggest that Chacoan elites used astronomical knowledge to assert ritual power and reinvigorate a declining system, offering insights into ancestral Pueblo social dynamics and power shifts.
Architectures of Inequality: Evaluating Houses, Kinship and Cosmology in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, A.D. 800-1200
The study reveals that social hierarchies in Chaco Canyon during the Chacoan fluorescence (A.D. 800-1200) were constructed and demonstrated through architectural investments, particularly in great houses like Pueblo Bonito. It identifies shared cosmological practices among both great houses and small house occupants, while also highlighting the unique, ritualized investments in Pueblo Bonito that underscored its precedence as an origin house. The research employs a comparative approach, integrating archaeological data with ethnographic patterns to analyze house construction materials, forms, and features, providing new insights into the cultural practices inscribed within these structures.
Controversy and Conflict: NAGPRA and the Role of Biological Anthropology in Determining Cultural Affiliation
Biological anthropology faces ongoing challenges in interpreting cultural affiliation under NAGPRA, as demonstrated by the Chaco Culture case. The study reveals that while the law mandates repatriation of human remains and funerary objects, the field's reliance on typological perspectives limits its ability to accurately assess cultural identity. This tension highlights discrepancies in NAGPRA implementation, including varying interpretations of cultural affiliation and administrative complexities. The research combines an administrative history review with a critical analysis of biological evidence from Chaco Culture National Historical Park, underscoring the need for more nuanced approaches to studying past and present cultural identities.
Early maize pollen from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA
A groundbreaking discovery at Chaco Culture National Historical Park reveals the presence of early maize cultivation dating back to 3940–2450 years ago, predating previously documented Puebloan agricultural practices. Analysis of prehistoric woodrat middens in sandstone cliff fractures uncovered abundant Zea mays pollen grains, significantly larger than modern varieties, suggesting multiple maize varieties were cultivated. The study also highlights a discrepancy between the radiocarbon ages of pollen and plant macrofossils within the same middens, emphasizing the need for independent dating of pollen assemblages to accurately reconstruct ancient agricultural landscapes.
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